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☆ Oracle is quietly cutting more jobs as layoffs hit one of its cloud divisions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Oracle is quietly cutting jobs again, months after its major August layoffs, Insider has learned. The scope of the layoffs are unclear, but it's at least affecting Oracle's NACT cloud unit. Oracle has quietly begun another round of quiet, unannounced layoffs as it looks to trim its costs. As Insider recently reported, morale at Oracle has been particularly low since August, when the company quietly performed a widespread layoff that may have impacted thousands of jobs across the world. Importantly, NACT is distinct from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), a separate organization led by executive VP Clay Magouyrk.

☆ Oracle insiders say that even its all-important cloud unit is being dragged down by new restrictions on hiring — a major turnaround for a unit that usually gets whatever it wants
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Jessica Xing | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oracle has restricted hiring at OCI, telling recruiters to stay away from expensive areas like SF. Its marketing and customer experience, or CX, divisions were among the hardest-hit units, but the company's cloud division, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure , or OCI, appeared to remain untouched. The restrictions inside OCI in particular follow a period of rapid hiring in 2021, when cloud firms raced to give candidates lucrative packages to win talent, the employee said. Business from OCI, especially with the addition of TikTok, has helped grow Oracle's revenue by 5% in the most recent fiscal year. Additionally, the firm's unwillingness to spend on labor has cost Oracle before, especially as its marketing cloud unit continues to lag behind competitor Salesforce.

☆ Here's what to look for when the Club's 5 tech holdings report this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

The world's biggest tech companies will be put under the microscope this week when they report earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Club holdings Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) have all been bogged down by inflation, weaker consumer demand and a slowing global economy. Here's what to expect when all 5 tech holdings report. At the same time, Goldman analysts predicted Microsoft's enterprise cloud computing business, Azure, would remain competitive, with 38% year-over-year growth. Apple (AAPL) Apple is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

☆ How Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt helped write AI laws in Washington without publicly disclosing investments in AI start-ups
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Eamon Javers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

'Conflict of interest'Schmidt's investment was just the first of a handful of direct investments he would make in AI start-up companies during his tenure as chairman of the AI commission. Altogether, Schmidt and entities connected to him made more than 50 investments in AI companies while he was chairman of the federal commission on AI. To Poulson, Schmidt was simply given too much power over federal AI policy. The new entity would continue the work of the congressionally created federal commission, with many of the same goals and much of the same staff. More than a dozen staffers from the federal commission followed Schmidt to the new private sector project.

☆ These two strategies can help you stay diversified in any kind of stock market
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Barbell strategy The other way to think about diversification — and one we used heavily during this year's choppy market — is the barbell portfolio strategy. And if inflation persists but also economic activity picks up, you better own energy stocks. That also brings more demand into the oil market, so expect oil prices and the energy stocks tied to it to benefit. But using correlations and the barbell method to create a diverse mix of holdings can help you stay invested in market. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Oracle employees say new location-based hiring restrictions are even impacting the cloud unit, which is the one place the typically frugal company was always willing to spend big for talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Jessica Xing | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oracle has restricted hiring at OCI, telling recruiters to stay away from expensive areas like SF. OCI is Oracle's big cloud computing bet, where the firm was always willing to spend top dollar. Its marketing and customer experience (CX) divisions were among the hardest-hit units, but the company's cloud division, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), appeared to remain untouched. Business from OCI, especially with the addition of TikTok, has helped grow Oracle's revenue by 5% in the most recent fiscal year. Additionally, the firm's unwillingness to spend on its labor has cost Oracle before, especially as its marketing cloud unit continues to lag behind competitor Salesforce.

☆ Google activates Israel's first local cloud region
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) on Thursday activated a local cloud region for Israel, offering cloud services to the country's government and military in a move expected to boost jobs and economic growth. Israel signed a deal with Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) (AMZN.O) in May 2021 for the more than $1 billion four-phase "Nimbus" project. As part of the project, billions of shekels will be invested in local infrastructure, Israel's Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. AWS is also expected to activate a cloud region during the first half of 2023, the ministry said. It added that the local cloud zones in Israel will allow the transfer of significant government computing systems to the cloud, boosting the efficiency of government services, shortening digital services activation response times, and saving on operating costs.

☆ What Cramer is watching Thursday — Tesla slides, IBM surprises, Danaher rolls on
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

IBM — A truly good quarter with excellent numbers when it comes to mainframe and hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence. Club holding Danaher (DHR) beat and raise ... no slowdown, all systems go ... company says growth was broad-based across all segments of the company. Company beat top and bottom line estimates as travel demand remains strong. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Everything you need to know about Parler, the right-wing social media platform Kanye West is planning to buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Allana Akhtar | Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Kanye West, now known as Ye, is in talks to buy right-wing social media platform Parler. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is entering a deal to buy right-wing social-media platform Parler, which launched in 2018. Meanwhile, Trump's platform Truth Social had 8,956,693 visitors, and Gab had 12,806,464 visitors, per Similarweb's analysis. What's on the Parler app? In February, Trump launched the Truth Social social media platform 13 months after being kicked off Facebook and Twitter after the January 6 Capitol riot.

☆ Goldman Sachs Embeds Software Developers Deeper Into the Business
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

PREVIEWHistorically, developers were asking “how” questions, Mr. Argenti said Wednesday during an online Wall Street Journal CIO Network members event. Mr. Argenti joined Goldman in 2019 as co-CIO after serving as vice president of technology at Amazon Web Services. Developers have only gained more power in business since then, Mr. Argenti said. “It’s kind of an evolution…to really manage the customer as one, no matter how many touch points they have within Goldman Sachs, ” Mr. Argenti said. The process can help developers feel more empowered and has led to higher retention rates, Mr Argenti said.

☆ Oracle employees say a wave of new hiring restrictions is cratering already low morale, and many worry another round of mass layoffs is looming
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Jessica Xing | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Start dates are being pushed and hiring cut across several business units at Oracle, insiders say. Some units that are hiring must target low-cost areas and avoid markets like Seattle and New York. Employees say restrictions are hurting an already demoralized workforce and worry more layoffs loom. Hiring managers across the company have been asked to push back start dates for new recruits, according to two sources within Oracle's recruiting division. More broadly, hiring has been slashed or significantly slowed down across several business units, according to conversations with several company insiders.

☆ Amazon to boost Thailand cloud infrastructure with $5 bln investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Amazon Web Services (AWS),the cloud computing division of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), said on Monday it plans to invest $5 billion in Thailand over the next 15 years to strengthen its infrastructure in the country. The investment would include construction of data centers and purchase of goods and services from regional businesses, AWS said in a statement. It also plans to set up an infrastructure hub in Thailand's Bangkok to help customers in the region securely store data, and serve end users better. AWS last month opened its first cloud data center in UAE and announced plans to setup a local hub in Mexico to boost bandwidth for clients. The edge locations help to deliver data, videos and applications at higher speeds to end users.

☆ Kanye West says he plans to make Parler a social-media platform for people who were 'bullied by the thought police'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kanye West said Parler would be for people who were restricted by other sites, per Bloomberg. West, who now goes by Ye, agreed on Monday to buy the right-wing platform that bills itself as a "free-speech platform." Express what's been haunting you." "When I got kicked off of Instagram and Twitter at the time, I knew it was time to acquire my own platform," Ye told Bloomberg. In comparison, around 2,800 Parler users were following Ye as of early Monday.

☆ Citi says Amazon is a top internet pick in a slower economy. Here’s why we think so, too
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon (AMZN) is the most attractive internet pick in a slower global economy, Citi said Tuesday, further bolstering our that the company can maintain its leadership despite a weaker macro backdrop. Amazon can still gain wallet share, Citi says, even if the consumer weakens further. These upbeat commentaries on AWS come at a time when information technology budgets for enterprise customers are constrained in a slower economy. This will result in preserving Amazon's profit margins in a soft landing or increasing margins in a hard landing, Citi explains. While advertising, a cyclical business tied to the health of the economy, has also faced headwinds, Citi says Amazon's leadership in online ads can support profitability.

☆ Kanye West’s biggest challenge with owning Parler may come from Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

After being banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump backed Truth Social, an alternative to Twitter. Perhaps the biggest wild card of all comes from West’s friend and fellow erratic rich guy, Elon Musk. The billionaire Tesla CEO appears closer than ever to taking over an already established platform, Twitter, with plans to cut back on its content restrictions. Conservative users uninterested in politics may also avoid the alternative platforms because of other objectionable content they host, according to experts who study the space. “Elon Musk could buy Twitter and say, ‘Trump, you’re back, Kanye, you’re back,’ and then Kanye is stuck owning a relatively defunct, somewhat irrelevant platform,” said Decker.

☆ Cybersecurity Tops the CIO Agenda as Threats Continue to Escalate
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Cyber and information security has been at the top of their agenda since 2020. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Gartner forecasts that worldwide information security and risk-management spending by end-users will reach $188.336 billion in 2023, up 11.3% from the current year. It’s what boards are talking about,” said Truist Financial Corp. Chief Information Security Officer Howard Whyte. He and Truist CIO Scott Case work closely to understand the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank’s changing attack surface and cybersecurity risk.

☆ Kanye West to buy 'free speech' social media platform Parler, current owner says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kanye West has entered into a deal to buy the social media platform, Parler. The social media site bills itself as a "free speech platform." Parler styles itself as a "global free speech platform," and is known for having less strict content moderating policies than other social media platforms. Parler came under fire during the January 6 Capitol riots when some users took to the social media platform to cheer on the protestors and call for more violence. After the riots, Amazon Web Services removed Parler from its web hosting service, and the platform was also banned from Apple and Google's app stores.

☆ Even as inflation bites, consumers are still turning to Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A spate of fresh data this week showed consumers are feeling the sting from high inflation. But those figures were not adjusted for inflation, indicating that consumer spending on retail actually fell last month. But while consumers are tempering their discretionary budgets this holiday season, Amazon remains their shopping platform of choice, according to Baird. In a separate note Thursday, Cowen said its shopping survey of Gen Z and Millennials showed Amazon to be their "most preferred" shopping website. An Amazon Prime truck is pictured as it crosses the George Washington Bridge on Interstate Route 95 during Amazon's two-day "Prime Early Access Sale" shopping event for Amazon members in New York, October 11, 2022.

☆ Some Big Tech firms were the top landing spot for recent Goldman Sachs tech departures, and it could be an early sign of the changing tides in the war for talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But first, the latest installment in Wall Street's war for tech talent. Big Tech wants its engineers back. In the ongoing war for top engineering talent, Big Tech has landed the latest blow against one of Wall Street's most powerful firms. Read more about the top firms scooping up recent Goldman departures, and how it could be representative of the larger issues Wall Street faces when trying to attract tech talent. Robo-advisor Betterment just launched customized crypto portfolios, the Wall Street Journal reports.

☆ Squarespace, a Website-Development Firm, Names Amazon Executive as CFO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Mr. Gooden most recently led the finances of the unit behind Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, and Echo, which sells the online retailer’s smart-speaker products. At Squarespace, Mr. Gooden is set to succeed Marcela Martin, who held the CFO role from November 2020 until July of this year. Photo: Squarespace Inc.Liz Coddington, the former vice president of finance for Amazon Web Services, in June joined exercise equipment company Peloton Interactive Inc. as CFO. Squarespace declined to make Mr. Gooden available for an interview, nor did he immediately respond to a request for comment via LinkedIn. Prior to joining Amazon, Mr. Gooden held CFO roles at companies such as payments firm SpacePointe and defunct commerce platform Solavei LLC.

☆ 3 takeaways from our daily meeting: Wall Street's bounce, small buy, reviewing analyst notes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. LVMH also owns Sephora, which carries prestige beauty brands like Estee Lauder, which is another good sign for the Club stock. Quick mentions: PG, PXD, AMZN Atlantic Equities upgraded Kimberly Clark, the maker of Huggies and Kleenex, to overweight. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Google and Amazon are two of the biggest poachers of Goldman's tech talent. We mapped out the top 10 firms snapping up the bank's recent departures.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon was the biggest poacher of Goldman tech talent from June to August. The organization tracked the LinkedIn profiles of people who left Goldman Sachs and picked up another job from June through August. Wall Street's tech hiring ambitions ramp up as tech powerhouses and startups pull backNonetheless, the demand for tech talent on Wall Street has remained strong. JPMorgan, the biggest beneficiary of the departures, hired 18 former Goldman Sachs employees. Citi and Morgan Stanley were also among the top poachers of Goldman talent, with the firms both scooping up 12 Goldman employees each.

☆ Microsoft's GitHub is relying more on Azure, says cloud chief
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft has been making its GitHub subsidiary more dependent on the company's own Azure public cloud. Otherwise, some developers wary of Microsoft's past behavior might not want to use GitHub to store their software code. The company would also speed up the ability for developers at large companies to use Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, Nadella wrote. Instead of pushing developers to run their code on Azure, GitHub has simply introduced new products and features, many of which are built on Azure. In September Microsoft informed investors that its closely watched Azure and Other Cloud Services revenue growth number each quarter would expand to include "additional GitHub cloud revenue now delivered via our datacenter infrastructure."

☆ Amazon’s prudent Prime sales event kicks off holiday shopping
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Club holding Amazon (AMZN) is attempting to ease the inflation burden ahead of the holiday season by offering fresh deals during its second Prime sales event of the year this week. "Given the current macroeconomic environment we know that savings are even more important," Amazon Prime Vice President Jamil Ghani told CNBC Wednesday . The current event comes on the heels of Amazon's Prime Day in July , which generated record purchases. Back in 2005, when the company launched Amazon Prime, it was focused on fast-and-free shipping. Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale is on through Oct. 12 to boost sales among cost-conscious consumers who are expected to start their holiday shopping even earlier this year.

☆ Amazon cost cuts under Jassy reflect changing reality after 25 years of growth over profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and then CEO of Amazon Web Services, speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, October 25, 2016. Mike Blake | ReutersThroughout its first 25 years as a public company, Amazon has operated under a singular mantra, often to the chagrin of Wall Street: growth is more important than profits. No wager was bigger than Amazon Web Services, the cloud-computing unit that Amazon launched in 2006 and that Jassy led until his promotion last year. "They're completely unafraid to kill something that's not working," said Craig Berman, a former Amazon vice president for global communications. Former Amazon employees Colin Bryar and Bill Carr wrote about the process in their 2021 book, "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon."

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